return." This warning I was sorry to find so very soon verified.

I heard nothing more on the subject of the expedition until Saturday the 11th of November, when I was sent for by Mr. Sargent, who informed me that the steam-vessel would not be ready to sail for a considerable time, and that it would be a difficult matter to victual the Ternate at Rangoon for so long a voyage. That besides this, the European crew on board of her were engaged to serve in the country, and might object to go on so long a voyage: he would therefore recommend my taking the command of the Hon. Company's ship Research, which vessel had just arrived in the river from Rangoon, and proceed with her to Mannicolo. To this proposal I agreed. He then requested me to make out a statement of such a crew as would be required, and we immediately arranged that part of the business.

I then recommended that a surgeon, naturalist, draughtsman, and botanist, should be attached to the expedition, for the purpose of obtaining all the knowledge possible relative to the character of these unfrequented islands and their inhabitants; and observed, that if an individual could be procured (such as Doctor Wallich, of the Hon. Company's botanic garden)

who understood the science of surgery as well as natural history and botany, it would be a great saving in the outfit of the expedition. I therefore ventured to propose my new friend and acquaintance, Doctor Tytler, to fill the above situation, as he had given me to understand that he was perfectly well acquainted with all the above sciences.*

On the 16th November I received the annexed letter, with the three documents which follow it, from Mr. E. Malony, acting secretary to the Government.

To Captain P. DILLON.

SIR:-In continuation of the letter addressed to you by Mr. Acting Secretary Fraser on the 12th ultimo, I am directed to inform you, that the Right Hon. the Vice-President in Council has this day been pleased to resolve, that the Hon. Company's surveying vessel, the Research, shall be placed under your command, for the purpose of enabling you to proceed to the Mannicolo Islands, with a view to obtain full and accurate information in regard to the shipwreck of the two vessels enumerated in your narrative of the 19th September last, which you consider, apparently upon very probable grounds, to have been the French frigates under the command of the Count la Pérouse, of whose fate no certain accounts have hitherto been ascertained.

I am likewise directed to forward to you, for your information and guidance, a copy of a resolution this day passed by

* He indeed pretended to every kind of knowledge, human and divine, with about as much justice as to the above sciences, as I soon after discovered.

Government, in which you will find more particularly detailed the objects which this Government have in view, in fitting out the expedition now placed under your command. You will likewise receive herewith, copies of letters which have this day been addressed, by order of Government, to the Marine Board and to Doctor Tytler, respectively.

You will be pleased to place yourself in communication with the Marine Board, from which authority you will receive such further instructions as may be necessary for your guidance in the performance of the duty now entrusted to you; and it only remains to intimate to you, the reliance which Government places in your zealous exertions, to leave nothing undone to accomplish the object of this enterprize, and their most anxious hope that those exertions may be crowned with complete success.

EXTRACT from the PROCEEDINGS of the Right Hon. the Vice-President in Council, in the General Department, under date the 16th November 1826.

Read and recorded a letter from the Secretary to the Asiatic Society, dated 4th instant; a letter from Doctor R. Tytler, dated 6th instant; and a letter from the Marine Board, dated 13th instant.

Read again the proceedings of the 12th and 24th ultimo, on the subject of Captain Dillon's proposal to Government to proceed to the Mannicolo Isles in search of the survivors of the Count de la Pérouse.

Resolution 1. Upon a mature consideration of all the circumstances set forth in the correspondence above recorded, the Vice-President in Council is satisfied that the facts which have been laid before Government by Captain Dillon are

sufficient to justify the hope, that if proper measures are adopted, some certain information may be obtained in regard to the loss of the French frigates Boussole and Astrolabe, commanded by the celebrated Count de la Pérouse, whose fate, notwithstanding the most anxious inquiries during a period of nearly forty years, has never yet been ascertained.

2. The facts which are detailed in the narrative submitted by Captain Dillon, appear to have been accurately ascertained. They afford in themselves a reasonable ground for the conclusion that the French frigates were actually lost at the Mannicolo Islands, inasmuch as there is nothing con nected with them, either as to date or geographical situation, which is inconsistent with the latest ascertained information on record, in regard to the course pursued by la Pérouse ; and it is understood, in particular, that the sword-guard in the possession of Captain Dillon has been inspected by the officers of the French service, and is considered by them clearly to be of the form and description worn by naval officers of that nation at the period when the Count de la Pérouse is supposed to have been shipwrecked. They conclude, also, from an examination of the cypher on it, which appears to correspond with the initials of that unfortunate commander, that it probably belonged to him.

3. There appears, too, from the rest of the evidence adduced by Captain Dillon, to be at least a probability that some of the crews of the ships wrecked at the Mannicolo Isles (whether they shall really prove to have been those commanded by la Pérouse or others) are still in existence.

4. Adverting, therefore, to the above circumstances, to the anxiety which has been expressed by the French authorities at Chandernagore that the inquiry should be prosecuted, and to the deep interest which the fate of la Pérouse has ever excited in Europe, his Lordship in Council cannot doubt that the Hon. Court of Directors will fully approve any measures, founded on information holding out a reasonable

hope of success, which this Government may adopt, for endeavouring to ascertain the fate of the French frigates, and of discovering and restoring to their country any of the survivors of their crews who may be found.

5. His Lordship in Council accordingly resolves, in pursuance of the recommendation of the Marine Board, that the Hon. Company's surveying vessel the Research shall be immediately fitted out in the manner proposed by the Board, and placed under the command of Captain Dillon, for the purpose of proceeding to the Mannicolo Islands, by such route and under such instructions as shall be furnished, and of endeavouring, by all practicable means, to ascertain fully every circumstance connected with the loss of the two ships alluded to in his narrative, as well as to discover any individuals of the crews of those vessels who may still be in existence.

6. The Marine Board will be requested to prepare and submit, for the approval of Government, a draft of any instructions with which they deem it necessary that Captain Dillon shall be furnished. From the long experience which Captain Dillon has had of the manners and customs of the natives of the South Sea Islands, it is obvious that much must be left to his discretion; and his Lordship in Council does not doubt that his proceedings, in furtherance of the important duty now entrusted to him, will be conducted with all the prudence required, without in any manner diminishing the zeal and energy which the occasion is calculated to call into action.

7. The Vice-President in Council fully concurs in opinion with the Marine Board, that an officer should be attached to the expedition in the capacity of naturalist and mineralogist, as likewise to afford medical aid to those engaged in it; and, accordingly his Lordship in Council is pleased to resolve that Dr. R. Tytler, a surgeon on this establishment, who has, with a spirit of enterprize highly creditable to himself, volunteered